The early history of cocktails often intersects with the great maritime trade routes, bringing sailing ships, sailors and merchants into the story. Curiously, cin cin, the expression Italians use when raising a glass — roughly equivalent to “cheers” — has a similarly seafaring past. Its origins can be traced to China during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), beginning a journey that moved from bustling Chinese ports to an English operetta and, eventually, into everyday Italian speech.
Cin Cin, Cincin or Even Cincìn
Two authoritative Italian dictionaries, Treccani and the one compiled by Giacomo Devoto and Gian Carlo Oli, note that cin cin can also be written as a single word, cincin, or with the stress marked on the final syllable, cincìn. Both trace the Italian expression to the English chinchin, itself derived from the Beijing Chinese ch’ing-ch’ing, or qǐng qǐng (請請).
More specifically, the English form belonged to what became known as Chinese Pidgin English, a simplified form of English incorporating Chinese words and expressions. It developed to facilitate communication among speakers of different languages doing business in Chinese ports during the 19th century.
Sailors and Merchants
The expression emerged against the backdrop of China’s growing commercial contact with the West, particularly with the British Empire, which by then had an extensive presence across the Indian subcontinent and East Asia. Ships arrived and departed daily, bringing sailors and merchants into constant contact with their Chinese counterparts.
Western visitors encountered the Chinese custom of offering tea to guests, often accompanied by the expression qǐng qǐng. It conveyed something along the lines of “please, please,” “go ahead” or “be my guest.” The phrase caught on. British sailors brought their version of it home, helping chinchin circulate through Victorian England and, eventually, across Europe.
The Operetta The Geisha
By the closing years of the 19th century, chinchin was familiar enough for the lyricist Harry Greenbank to use it in The Geisha, an 1896 musical comedy in two acts composed by James Sidney Jones, with a libretto by Owen Hall and lyrics by Greenbank.
In the second act appears a song titled “Chin Chin Chinaman,” performed by the eccentric proprietor of the tea house where much of the action takes place. There is one geographical complication: The Geisha is set in Japan. Exactly how — or indeed whether — chinchin traveled from China into Japanese usage is unclear. The operetta’s authors may simply have embraced the Victorian fascination with East Asian settings without worrying too much about linguistic accuracy. There is no conclusive evidence either way.
What is clear is that the Japanese equivalent of the Italian cin cin is kanpai, which was already being used for toasts decades before The Geisha was written.
“Chin Chin Chinaman” Comes to Italy
On April 16, 1901, The Geisha made its Italian debut at the Teatro dei Filodrammatici in Milan. Greenbank’s Chinese Pidgin English was translated rather freely, using Italian intended to mimic the speech of a foreigner — sometimes in ways that would hardly pass muster today.
In the Italian version of “Chin Chin Chinaman,” the lyrics imitate a speaker unable to pronounce the letter r, replacing it with an l. The number nevertheless — or perhaps partly because of its broad comic effect — proved popular with audiences.
And So: Cheers!
It is difficult to establish whether The Geisha was responsible for cementing cin cin in Italian usage or whether the operetta was simply capitalizing on an expression that had already begun to circulate. What we do know is that, by the early 20th century, cin cin was already associated with raising a glass, well beyond the maritime circles in which the expression had first traveled.
One theory holds that its popularity in Italy was helped by its resemblance to the clinking sound of two glasses touching during a toast. It is an appealing explanation, though there is little firm evidence to support it. There is also a small irony here: traditional etiquette discourages actually clinking glasses, at least on formal occasions.
Whatever the precise route — and it was certainly a circuitous one — cin cin eventually became part of everyday Italian. Today, it is instantly understood across the country whenever glasses are raised and a toast is made.
